Effective branding can have a huge impact on the performance of a business in a crowded market place.Branding does not refer to designing a pretty new logo: good branding is about creating and projecting a corporate personality that truly engages with your target market in a way that enables potential customers to recognise your business’s values and encourages them to connect with you, in preference to your competitors.When branding works at its best it also becomes part of your company’s culture, encouraging individuals working within your organisation to truly understand the vision of your business and how their behaviour and performance are an integral part of achieving that vision.With good communications management, brand owners will be able to design and implement branding across a wide range of creative disciplines, from literature and web presence to promotional material and office design, as well as ensuring that any cultural aspects are managed and developed amongst staff.Branding is particularly important in crowded markets where customers have a wide choice of products or services that they perceive to be similar. This could be because all products in the market place are very similar, or perhaps, where there is a degree of product knowledge required in order to fully understand the merits of competing goods and services. In such scenarios, price often becomes the decisive factor in customer choice. Good news for the customer but not so for the businesses providing the goods or services, as margins will inevitably get driven down. This is particularly evident during economic downturns, where customers are inevitably looking for cost savings.One way out of this price-driven spiral is to create a brand that provides competitive advantage for your business, product or service. Your brand personality can be specifically designed to tap into particular aspects of behaviour identified amongst your target market, positioning your brand in the most appropriate way to connect with that market. Branding provides the ‘point of difference’ that allows customers to see your product or service as something other than a ‘me too’ product. Customers will become attached to the brand values that you project and growing brand loyalty will translate into more sales and healthier margins.The process does not need to be lengthy or expensive but choosing the right branding specialist will be crucial to your company’s rebranding program. Choose a partner that has the expertise to quickly identify branding opportunities and the skill set to implement branding initiatives at a pace to suit your business and budgets. Choose a branding agency capable of taking a holistic business approach to branding, looking at ‘whole-business’ solutions that will deliver the ‘point of difference’ effectively.In the long term, we look to rebrand our clients with a creative and innovative means of connecting with their target audience in a sustainable way that develops loyalty.